'''Wayland''' is a new windowing protocol for Linux. Utilization of Wayland requires changes to and re-installation of parts of your system's software. For more information on Wayland see its [http://wayland.freedesktop.org/ homepage].

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{{Warning|Wayland is under heavy development. Support can not be guaranteed and it may not function as you expect.}}

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[http://wayland.freedesktop.org/ Wayland] is a protocol for a [[wikipedia:Compositing window manager|compositor]] to talk to its clients, as well as a library implementing this protocol. All major Linux desktop systems like Gnome, KDE do support Wayland, and there is also a reference implementation for a compositor called "Weston". [https://wayland.freedesktop.org/xserver.html XWayland] implements a compatibility layer to seamlessly run legacy X11 applications on Wayland.

== Requirements ==

== Requirements ==

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Currently Wayland will only work with on a system that is utilizing [[KMS]].

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Wayland only works on systems using [[KMS]]. As Wayland is only a library, it is useless on its own: to replace the X Server you need a compositor such as [[#Weston]].

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== Installation ==

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=== Buffer API support ===

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Wayland is most probably installed on your system already as it is an indirect dependency of {{Pkg|gtk2}} and {{Pkg|gtk3}}. If it is not installed, you will find the {{Pkg|wayland}} package in the [[official repositories]].

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For the GPU driver and Wayland compositor to be compatible they must support the same buffer API. There are two main APIs: [[Wikipedia:Generic Buffer Management|GBM]] and [http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=XDC2016-Device-Memory-API EGLStreams].

{{ic|card0}} is the unused built-in video adapter. The add-on adapter {{ic|card1}} is cabled to one HDMI and one DVI monitor, so the output names are {{ic|HDMI-A-1}} and {{ic|DVI-I-1}}.

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{{hc|~/.config/weston.ini|<nowiki>

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[core]

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# xwayland support

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xwayland=true

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[libinput]

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enable_tap=true

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[shell]

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background-image=/usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/Aqua.jpg

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background-color=0xff002244

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panel-color=0x90ff0000

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locking=true

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animation=zoom

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close-animation=fade

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focus-animation=dim-layer

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#binding-modifier=ctrl

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#num-workspaces=6

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### for cursor themes install xcursor-themes pkg from Extra. ###

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#cursor-theme=whiteglass

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#cursor-size=24

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### tablet options ###

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#lockscreen-icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome/256x256/actions/lock.png

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#lockscreen=/usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/Garden.jpg

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#homescreen=/usr/share/backgrounds/gnome/Blinds.jpg

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#animation=fade

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### for Laptop displays ###

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#[output]

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#name=LVDS1

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#mode=1680x1050

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#transform=90

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#[output]

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#name=VGA1

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# The following sets the mode with a modeline, you can get modelines for your preffered resolutions using the cvt utility

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#mode=173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync

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#transform=flipped

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#[output]

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#name=X1

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#mode=1024x768

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#transform=flipped-270

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[input-method]

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#path=/usr/lib/weston/weston-keyboard

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[keyboard]

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keymap_rules=evdev

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#keymap_layout=gb,de

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#keymap_options=caps:ctrl_modifier,shift:both_capslock_cancel

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### keymap_options from /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst ###

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numlock-on=true

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[terminal]

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#font=DroidSansMono

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#font-size=14

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[launcher]

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icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome/24x24/apps/utilities-terminal.png

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path=/usr/bin/weston-terminal

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[launcher]

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icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome/24x24/apps/utilities-terminal.png

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path=/usr/bin/gnome-terminal

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[launcher]

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icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/firefox.png

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path=/usr/bin/firefox

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[launcher]

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icon=/usr/share/weston/icon_flower.png

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path=/usr/bin/weston-flower

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[screensaver]

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# Uncomment path to disable screensaver

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path=/usr/libexec/weston-screensaver

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duration=600

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</nowiki>

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}}

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Minimal {{ic|weston.ini}} :

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{{hc|~/.config/weston.ini|<nowiki>

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[core]

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xwayland=true

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[keyboard]

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keymap_layout=gb

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[output]

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name=LVDS1

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mode=1680x1050

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transform=90

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[launcher]

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icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome/24x24/apps/utilities-terminal.png

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path=/usr/bin/weston-terminal

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[launcher]

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icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/firefox.png

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path=/usr/bin/firefox

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</nowiki>

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}}

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==== XWayland ====

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[[Install]] the {{Pkg|xorg-server-xwayland}} package.

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When you want to run an X application from within Weston, it spins up Xwayland to service the request. The following configuration is shown above:

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{{hc|~/.config/weston.ini|

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<nowiki>[core]

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modules=xwayland.so</nowiki>

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}}

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{{Note| if X is not already configured you may need to configure a keymap: [[Keyboard configuration in Xorg]]}}

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==== Screencast recording ====

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Weston has build-in screencast recording which can be started and stopped by pressing the {{ic|Super+r}} key combination. Screencasts are saved to the file {{ic|capture.wcap}} in the current working directory of Weston.

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The WCAP format is a lossless video format specific to Weston, which only records the difference in frames. To be able to play the recorded screencast, the WCAP file will need to be converted to a format which a media player can understand. First, convert the capture to the YUV pixel format:

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$ wcap-decode capture.wcap --yuv4mpeg2 > capture.y4m

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The YUV file can then be transcoded to other formats using [[FFmpeg]].

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==== High DPI displays ====

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For [[wikipedia:Retina_Display|Retina]] or [[HiDPI]] displays, use:

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{{hc|~/.config/weston.ini|

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<nowiki>[output]

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name=...

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scale=2</nowiki>

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}}

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(See details on the [http://wayland.freedesktop.org/toolkits.html official website])

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==== Shell font ====

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=== GTK+ ===

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Weston uses the default sans-serif font for window title bars, clocks, etc. See [[Font configuration#Replace or set default fonts]] for instructions on how to change this font.

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You need to install {{Pkg|gtk3}} from the official repositories, which now has the Wayland backend enabled.

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== GUI libraries ==

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With GTK+ 3.0, GTK+ gained support for multiple backends at runtime and can switch between backends in the same way Qt can with lighthouse.

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See details on the [http://wayland.freedesktop.org/toolkits.html official website].

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When both Wayland and X backends are enabled, GTK+ will default to the X11 backend, but this can be overridden by modifying an environment variable: {{ic|GDK_BACKEND&#61;wayland}}.

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=== GTK+ 3 ===

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=== Qt5 ===

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The {{Pkg|gtk3}} package has the Wayland backend enabled. GTK+ will default to the X11 backend, but this can be overridden by modifying an environment variable: {{ic|GDK_BACKEND&#61;wayland}}.

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You need to install {{Pkg|qt5-base}} and the wayland plugin {{AUR|qtwayland-git}}.

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=== Qt 5 ===

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To enable Wayland support in Qt 5, install the {{Pkg|qt5-wayland}} package.

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To run a Qt5 app with the Wayland plugin, set {{ic|QT_QPA_PLATFORM&#61;wayland-egl}}.

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To run a Qt 5 app with the Wayland plugin, use {{ic|1=-platform wayland}} or set the {{ic|1=QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland-egl}} [[environment variable]].

=== Clutter ===

=== Clutter ===

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The Clutter toolkit has a Wayland backend that allows it to run as a Wayland client. The backend is enabled in the official package in extra.

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The Clutter toolkit has a Wayland backend that allows it to run as a Wayland client. The backend is enabled in the {{Pkg|clutter}} package.

To run a Clutter app on Wayland, set {{ic|CLUTTER_BACKEND&#61;wayland}}.

To run a Clutter app on Wayland, set {{ic|CLUTTER_BACKEND&#61;wayland}}.

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=== SDL ===

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=== SDL2 ===

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To run a SDL2 application on Wayland, set {{ic|SDL_VIDEODRIVER&#61;wayland}}.

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Benjamin Franzke is working on a port of SDL to Wayland, it's available in his [http://cgit.freedesktop.org/~bnf/sdl-wayland/ sdl-wayland repo] on freedesktop.org. Further development upon Benjamins work was done by Andre Heider in his [https://github.com/dhewg/libsdl/tree/wl wayland branch] of libsdl. Scott Moreau picked up where others left and fixed the library to work with 1.0 protocol. You can find his work in [https://github.com/soreau/SDL/tree/wayland wayland branch] of SDL repository.

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=== GLFW ===

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To run a SDL application on Wayland, set {{ic|SDL_VIDEODRIVER&#61;wayland}}.

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To use GLFW with the Wayland backend, install the {{Pkg|glfw-wayland}} package (instead of {{Pkg|glfw-x11}}).

| [[Velox]] is a simple window manager based on swc. It is inspired by [[dwm]] and [[xmonad]].

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|-

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| Orbital

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| Stacking

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| [https://github.com/giucam/orbital Orbital] is a Wayland compositor and shell, using Qt5 and Weston. The goal of the project is to build a simple yet flexible and good looking Wayland desktop. It is not a full fledged DE but rather the analogue of a WM in the X11 world, such as [[Awesome]] or [[Fluxbox]].

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|-

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| Liri Shell

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| Stacking

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| [https://github.com/lirios/shell Liri Shell] is the desktop shell for [[Liri]], built using QtQuick and QtCompositor as a compositor for Wayland.

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|-

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| Maynard

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| ''(Unclear)''

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| [https://github.com/raspberrypi/maynard Maynard] is a desktop shell client for Weston based on GTK. It was based on weston-gtk-shell, a project by Tiago Vignatti.

Some of installed wayland desktop clients might store information in {{ic|/usr/share/wayland-sessions/*.desktop}} files about how to start them in wayland.

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==Troubleshooting==

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=== Running graphical applications as root ===

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Trying to run a graphical application as root via [[su]], [[sudo]] or [[polkit|pkexec]] in a Wayland session (''e.g.'' [[GParted]] or [[Gedit]]), be it in a terminal emulator or from a graphical component, will fail with an error similar to this:

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{{bc|$ sudo gedit

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No protocol specified

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Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused

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(gedit:2349): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: :0

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}}

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Before Wayland, running GUI applications with elevated privileges could be properly implemented by creating a [[Polkit]] policy, or more dangerously done by running the command in a terminal by prepending the command with {{ic|sudo}}; but under (X)Wayland this does not work anymore as the default has been made to only allow the user who started the X server to connect clients to it (see the [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1266771 bug report] and [https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/commit/?id=c4534a3 the] [https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/commit/?id=4b4b908 upstream] [https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/commit/?id=76636ac commits] it refers to).

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The most straightforward workaround is to use [[xhost]] to temporarily allow the root user to access the local user's X session. To do so, execute the following command as the current (unprivileged) user[https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1274451#c64]:

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xhost si:localuser:root

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To remove this access after the application has been closed:

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xhost -si:localuser:root

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{{Note|1=This [https://bugzilla.gnome.org//show_bug.cgi?id=772875 GNOME bug report] suggests two other workarounds, with one specific to editing text files.}}

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{{Style|Many of these subsections should go into a "Known issues" section (i.e., there is no solution currently). Additionally prepending a date is not needed.}}

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=== LLVM assertion failure ===

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If you get an LLVM assertion failure, you need to rebuild {{Pkg|mesa}} without Gallium LLVM until this problem is fixed.

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This may imply disabling some drivers which require LLVM.

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You may also try exporting the following, if having problems with hardware drivers:

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KDE 4.11 beta supports starting [http://blog.martin-graesslin.com/blog/2013/06/starting-a-full-kde-plasma-session-in-wayland/ KWin under Wayland system compositor]. There is currently no support for using KWin as a session compositor.

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$ export EGL_DRIVER=/usr/lib/egl/egl_gallium.so

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=== GNOME ===

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=== Slow motion, graphical glitches, and crashes ===

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Gnome-shell users may experience display issues when they switch to Wayland from X. One of the root cause might be the {{ic|1=CLUTTER_PAINT=disable-clipped-redraws:disable-culling}} set by yourself for Xorg-based gnome-shell. Just try to remove it from {{ic|/etc/environment}} or other rc files to see if everything goes back to normal.

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GNOME is currently ported to Wayland and will be available in a future version. For details look into the [https://live.gnome.org/Wayland GNOME wiki].

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=== nemo ===

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(20161229) prevent that the desktop is created <ref>[https://github.com/linuxmint/nemo/issues/1343 nemo issue 1343]</ref>

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gsettings set org.nemo.desktop show-desktop-icons false

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=== Pure Wayland ===

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=== X11 on tty1, wayland on tty2 ===

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(20161209) windows of gnome applications end up on tty2 no matter where started ([https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=774775 gnome issue 774775)]

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{{Warning|Some really quick notes on installing a pure (no X11) Wayland system on Arch Linux. This is from source and installed into {{ic|/usr/local}}. May break your system. You have been warned.}}

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=== gnome wayland on tty1, weston on tty2 ===

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(20170106) apps started on gnome with WAYLAND_DISPLAY set to westen make it not respond any more ([https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=99489 wayland issue 99489])

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First install a base Arch Linux install with base and base-devel. Do not install xorg or any of its libraries.

In contrast to Xorg, Wayland does not allow exclusive input device grabbing, also known as active or explicit grab (e.g. [https://tronche.com/gui/x/xlib/input/XGrabKeyboard.html keyboard], [https://tronche.com/gui/x/xlib/input/XGrabPointer.html mouse]), instead, it depends on the Wayland compositor to pass keyboard shortcuts and confine the pointer device to the application window.

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Note - no glx/gl or xcb - EGL only.

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This change in input grabbing breaks current applications' behavior, meaning:

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* Hotkey combinations and modifiers will be caught by the compositor and won't be sent to remote desktop and virtual machine windows.

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* The mouse pointer will not be restricted to the application's window which might cause a parallax effect where the location of the mouse pointer inside the window of the virtual machine or remote desktop is displaced from the host's mouse pointer.

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$ pacman -S libpng

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Wayland solves this by adding protocol extensions for Wayland and XWayland. Support for these extensions is needed to be added to Wayland compositors, XWayland and in the case of native Wayland clients to widget toolkits (e.g GTK, QT) and probably also to the applications themselves. ATM there is no Wayland compositor which support all of these extensions.

Latest revision as of 15:14, 11 December 2017

Wayland is a protocol for a compositor to talk to its clients, as well as a library implementing this protocol. All major Linux desktop systems like Gnome, KDE do support Wayland, and there is also a reference implementation for a compositor called "Weston". XWayland implements a compatibility layer to seamlessly run legacy X11 applications on Wayland.

Screencast recording

Weston has build-in screencast recording which can be started and stopped by pressing the Super+r key combination. Screencasts are saved to the file capture.wcap in the current working directory of Weston.

The WCAP format is a lossless video format specific to Weston, which only records the difference in frames. To be able to play the recorded screencast, the WCAP file will need to be converted to a format which a media player can understand. First, convert the capture to the YUV pixel format:

Velox is a simple window manager based on swc. It is inspired by dwm and xmonad.

Orbital

Stacking

Orbital is a Wayland compositor and shell, using Qt5 and Weston. The goal of the project is to build a simple yet flexible and good looking Wayland desktop. It is not a full fledged DE but rather the analogue of a WM in the X11 world, such as Awesome or Fluxbox.

Liri Shell

Stacking

Liri Shell is the desktop shell for Liri, built using QtQuick and QtCompositor as a compositor for Wayland.

Maynard

(Unclear)

Maynard is a desktop shell client for Weston based on GTK. It was based on weston-gtk-shell, a project by Tiago Vignatti.

Motorcar

(Unclear)

Motorcar is a Wayland compositor to explore 3D windowing using virtual reality.

Way Cooler

Tiling

way-coolerAUR is a customizable (Lua config files) Wayland compositor written in Rust. Inspired by i3 and awesome.

Grefsen is a Qt/Wayland compositor providing a minimal desktop environment.

Some of installed wayland desktop clients might store information in /usr/share/wayland-sessions/*.desktop files about how to start them in wayland.

Troubleshooting

Running graphical applications as root

Trying to run a graphical application as root via su, sudo or pkexec in a Wayland session (e.g.GParted or Gedit), be it in a terminal emulator or from a graphical component, will fail with an error similar to this:

Before Wayland, running GUI applications with elevated privileges could be properly implemented by creating a Polkit policy, or more dangerously done by running the command in a terminal by prepending the command with sudo; but under (X)Wayland this does not work anymore as the default has been made to only allow the user who started the X server to connect clients to it (see the bug report and theupstreamcommits it refers to).

The most straightforward workaround is to use xhost to temporarily allow the root user to access the local user's X session. To do so, execute the following command as the current (unprivileged) user[1]:

xhost si:localuser:root

To remove this access after the application has been closed:

xhost -si:localuser:root

Note: This GNOME bug report suggests two other workarounds, with one specific to editing text files.

Reason: Many of these subsections should go into a "Known issues" section (i.e., there is no solution currently). Additionally prepending a date is not needed. (Discuss in Talk:Wayland#)

LLVM assertion failure

If you get an LLVM assertion failure, you need to rebuild mesa without Gallium LLVM until this problem is fixed.

This may imply disabling some drivers which require LLVM.
You may also try exporting the following, if having problems with hardware drivers:

$ export EGL_DRIVER=/usr/lib/egl/egl_gallium.so

Slow motion, graphical glitches, and crashes

Gnome-shell users may experience display issues when they switch to Wayland from X. One of the root cause might be the CLUTTER_PAINT=disable-clipped-redraws:disable-culling set by yourself for Xorg-based gnome-shell. Just try to remove it from /etc/environment or other rc files to see if everything goes back to normal.

weston-terminal

liteide

screen recording

Currently only green-recorderAUR supports screen recording on Wayland (requires a GNOME session).

remote display

(20161229) there was a merge of FreeRDP into weston in 2013, enabled via compile time switch. The arch linux weston package currently has it not enabled.

Input grabbing in games, remote desktop and VM windows

In contrast to Xorg, Wayland does not allow exclusive input device grabbing, also known as active or explicit grab (e.g. keyboard, mouse), instead, it depends on the Wayland compositor to pass keyboard shortcuts and confine the pointer device to the application window.

This change in input grabbing breaks current applications' behavior, meaning:

Hotkey combinations and modifiers will be caught by the compositor and won't be sent to remote desktop and virtual machine windows.

The mouse pointer will not be restricted to the application's window which might cause a parallax effect where the location of the mouse pointer inside the window of the virtual machine or remote desktop is displaced from the host's mouse pointer.

Wayland solves this by adding protocol extensions for Wayland and XWayland. Support for these extensions is needed to be added to Wayland compositors, XWayland and in the case of native Wayland clients to widget toolkits (e.g GTK, QT) and probably also to the applications themselves. ATM there is no Wayland compositor which support all of these extensions.